Toward a philosophical history of psychology: An alternative path for the future

Abstract

Recent transformations in the history of science and the philosophy of science have led historians of psychology to raise questions about the future development of their historiography. Although there is a dominant tendency among them to view their discipline as related to the social turn in the history of science, there is no consensus over how to approach the history of psychology methodologically. The aim of this article is to address the issue of the future of the historiography of psychology by proposing an alternative but complementary path for the field, which I call a philosophical history of psychology. In order to achieve this goal, I will first present and discuss the emergence of the social turn in the history of psychology, showing some of its problems. I will then introduce the contemporary debate about the integration of the history of science and the philosophy of science as an alternative model for the history of psychology. Finally, I will propose general guidelines for a philosophical history of psychology, discussing some of its possible advantages and limitations. Keywordshistory of psychology, history of science, philosophy of psychology, philosophy of science Recent transformations in the history of science and the philosophy of science have led historians of psychology to raise questions about the future development of their historiography. 1 How might we conceive a critical history of psychology and bury once and for all the so-called celebratory or naïve historical narratives that still exist in the field? The recent debate between Kurt Danziger (2013) and Daniel Robinson (2013aRobinson ( , 2013b shows clearly that there are still profound disagreements among historians of psychology about

What Is History of Psychology? Network Analysis ofJournal Citation Reports, 2009-2015

“…These analyses suggest that the largest single contributor to the doing is "Sociology" (as indeed was recently observed by Araujo, 2017). However, two other categories also rise above two standard deviations from the mean: "Psychology, Multidisciplinary" and "Psychiatry."…”

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“…Mais especificamente, tratase de interrogar os documentos a partir de questões filosóficas específicas (ontológicas, epistemológicas, metodológicas, etc.) associadas a tais projetos, atentando para o contexto original de seu surgimento e posterior desenvolvimento (Araujo, 2017a(Araujo, , 2017b. No caso de Tetens, em que a psicologia está inserida em sua filosofia, essa estratégia nos permite explicitar a trama conceitual e os princípios teóricos de seu projeto psicológico, revelando, assim, sua motivação essencialmente filosófica.…”

The “new history of psychology” and the uses and abuses of dichotomies

“…Intellectual aspects of the history of psychology, however, are not reducible to social ones. Araujo (2017), for example, has shown that, however undoubtedly important, social approaches to Wundt's psychological program cannot explain alone many of its conceptual developments, such as the abandonment of the unconscious.…”